Sealing a week’s worth of political intrigue, Mayor Richard Daley and Gary Mayor Thomas Barnes on Saturday signed their agreement to create a regional authority designed to prevent suburban Republicans from taking control of Chicago’s airports.
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The ceremony at Gary Regional Airport came after the Chicago City Council voted 45-1 to approve the partnership and gave a standing ovation to Daley for his secret strategy. Gary’s council already had approved the measure.
And after protecting their airports, Chicago’s politicians padded their wallets by approving a $55,000 raise for Daley and $20,000 increases for aldermen, the city clerk and the city treasurer.
The airport measure prevents the Republican-run Illinois General Assembly from stripping City Hall of control over millions of dollars worth of contracts and thousands of jobs at O’Hare International and Midway Airports.
But it embarrasses Gov. Jim Edgar and the Republican legislative majority, who are expected to retaliate. The Republicans will determine the outcome of issues including public-school funding, riverboat gambling and anything else Daley wants from Springfield.
Some aldermen privately wondered whether protecting the airports was worth the now-open war with the suburbs.
But Daley, Barnes and Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh were all smiles as they signed what they called their “historic” agreement.
“This agreement is good for the region, it’s good for the airlines, good for the economy, good for Gary and good for Chicago,” Daley said.
He couldn’t resist taking a few jabs at GOP legislators.
“They may threaten me, they may threaten the citizens of Chicago, but as mayor, I have the responsibility of protecting our assets,” Daley said.
Bayh said, “I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.”
Daley said he was forced to hatch the airport deal after concluding that GOP leaders were about to take control of the city’s airports and use the $90 million in annual passenger-tax revenue to build Edgar’s proposed third regional airport near Peotone, in Will County.
Republicans, however, complained that Daley had negotiated in bad faith with legislative leaders on Chicago’s role in a state regional airport authority, even as his agents were secretly firming up the Gary pact.
Either way, the issue of who controls Chicago’s airports is expected to wind up in the courts if the legislature and Edgar follow suit and approve an airport authority controlled by suburban Republicans.
Edgar, who recently returned from a trip to Israel, said he was sorry to see old wounds between the city and the suburbs reopened.
“When I got back from the Middle East, I thought I was still in the Middle East,” Edgar said at an appearance Saturday night on Chicago’s Near North Side. “We’ve had years of mistrust between suburbanites and the city, and this didn’t help any.”
Edgar said Daley had rushed into the pact with Gary.
“I think the mayor got a little paranoid. Just because certain legislators have said things doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” he said.
The governor maintained that he and GOP lawmakers never wanted to take revenue from the Chicago passenger tax to build the Peotone airport.
Edgar planned to discuss Daley’s actions in a series of meetings with Senate President James “Pate” Philip and House Speaker Lee Daniels on Tuesday, when lawmakers return to Springfield.
But threats of Republican retribution were not on the minds of city officials Saturday.
“He thought they were coming after us big time,” said one Daley adviser. “And the idea was, don’t let them hit first. So we hit first. The lawyers will fight it out. And at the least it gives us time to keep talking.”
Some even suggested that the Chicago-Gary alliance also might allow the city to build a casino just over the Indiana border, an idea that Daley administration officials immediately shot down as legally impossible.
Out on the council floor, aldermen were congratulating their city while demonizing Edgar, Philip (R-Wood Dale) and Daniels (R-Elmhurst).
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In three hours of speeches, the GOP was compared to Egyptian pharaohs, country bumpkins and pirates.
Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), who is Jewish but attended the meeting during Passover because of the stated civic “emergency,” compared Chicago to the Israelites seeking freedom from “Pharaoh Philip of Wood Dale.”
The city’s case was made in a compelling speech by Ald. Edward Burke (14th), employing emotion and law.
“Chicago’s success has been linked to transportation,” Burke said. “It is our responsibility to ensure that this vital segment of our economic base is safe and secure.”
The council is scheduled to meet again Monday to approve five mayoral appointments to the 12-member airport authority. Barnes also appoints five members, and each state’s governor appoints one.
The only dissenting vote Saturday was from Ald. Dexter Watson (27th), who said, “This is nothing but a big diversion from the pay-raise issue. That’s all this is. Let’s tell it like it is.”